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INTRO: Ottoman rogue is latest Turkish movie hero.
STORY: Turkish cinema audiences love their heroes and the brawling(愛喧鬧的), roguish(陶氣的) womanizer(玩弄女性者) Yandim Ali (彥丁‧阿里) -- who takes on (承受) British forces occupying Istanbul(伊斯坦堡) in "The Last Ottoman" – fits(相稱) the bill(海報傳單) perfectly. The film, set during the break-up(解體) of the Ottoman Empire(鄂圖曼土耳其帝國) at the end of World War One, taps into a growing wave of nationalism in Turkish cinema which has fed on(以…為食) historical themes and current issues such as the war in neighbouring Iraq.
xploiting(開拓) the popularity(普及) of Turkish television stars, local films are now mounting(發動攻勢) a major challenge to the Hollywood productions which used to dominate cinema screens here. The mass-market local productions(電影製片) are also much more of a hit with audiences at home than the Turkish art house movies that have won critical acclaim(喝采) abroad.
Mustafa Sevki Dogan, director of "The Last Ottoman", is under no illusions about the recipe for success with his central character, based on a popular comic strip hero. Describing film's main character Yandim Ali, as a great hero, Dogan says heroism is something which always appeals to Turkish people.
"When we look at our our past, since from childhood, heroes always have been attracted us. We always keep a hope to be hero one day. That's how we have been grown in Turkey." he told Reuters. In his film, Yandim Ali evolves from a loveable rogue to a hero of the country's liberation from foreign forces, inspired by the example of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Dogan also had a hand in the creation of a television series which last year spawned(造成) Turkey's most successful film, the controversial(具爭議性的) "Valley of the Wolves-Iraq", whose hero Polat Alemdar(阿萊姆達爾) single-handedly battles U.S. forces in Iraq. The Wolves film, with a record budget of $10 million, drew on anti-American sentiment(情緒) in Turkey after a real-life incident in Iraq when U.S. forces arrested and hooded Turkish special forces, causing widespread anger and a diplomatic incident. "Valley of the Wolves" is one of two Turkish films to draw a four-million-strong audience. It eclipsed the science-fiction comedy G.O.R.A. ,in which comedian Cem Yilmaz's character fights to escape the clutches(抓住) of the aliens(外星人) who abducted(綁架) him.
Alongside(緊接著) "The Last Ottoman", the other box-office success this year has been "The Masked Five in Iraq" in which a clumsy Turkish gang outwits U.S. forces in Iraq to divert oil resources from there to Turkey.
Turkish cinema fell into decline in the mid-1970s with the spread of television. As a result, the number of cinema screens fell from several thousand to around just 250. By the time it began to recover in the late 1980s there were few producers and directors to make films, and few people willing to invest. Only in 1996 did cinema take a leap forward with the success of the film Eskiya, which drew an audience of more than 2.5 million people with its portrayal of the life of a bandit following his release from jail after a 35-year sentence.
The number of locally made films has now doubled to around 30 annually. Audiences of these films account for some 50 percent of box office receipts. The last decade has also seen the domestic film industry progressing technically and the next step is to achieve greater international success for local films.
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